


Ishikawa

by destielbooty



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College Student Castiel, Dean is 35, M/M, Mechanic Dean, Yes I know, agegap, castiel is 23
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-08-24 06:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8360689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destielbooty/pseuds/destielbooty
Summary: Ishikawa diagrams (also called fishbone diagrams, herringbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, or Fishikawa) are causal diagrams created by Kaoru Ishikawa (1968) that show the causes of a specific event.When Dean Winchester walks into a gay bar and sees a cute guy making fish doodles, he can't help but fall in love.[ i suck at summaries, just read it pls ]





	1. College, uh? Fancy

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry in advanced for any grammatical mistake!

He can't help but feel nervous. It's not really that much, just a class full of people listening to him attentively. Just that. Jesus, he's going to puke. Maybe he should just run and not stop till he's under baby's roof. Yeah, that sounds good.

Before he can run away, Sammy is standing in front of him. "C'mon Dean." He is tugged by his brother to the front of the class. "Good afternoon, everyone. This is Dean Winchester, and he's going to talk to us about how life can carry you towards different paths that you hadn't even thought about before. Ready Dean?" he asks with a small smile. Dean nods.

Everyone in the class is looking at him, and he feels the shivers going down his spine. He has never really been a fun of crowds. "So yeah. Just as my brother said, I'm Dean Winchester. I am currently a mechanic at  _behind the hood_. Uhm, they want me to talk to you because I had a messy life and managed to stay all together and be happy, so I guess I should start by school life, right?"

He was expecting some feedback from the class but as he let his wonder through the room, all he sees are serious faces fixed in all of his movements. It's enough to make him feel self-conscious. He walks to the desk and sits in it. "I wasn't a bright student. I was pretty bad at it, I almost dropped out of high school, and I'm sure nobody would have cared but some... things happened in my life and I didn't. I'm glad now, but back then it all seemed like a burden. You know, I had to take care of things and I couldn't if I had to do homework and study every day. But I managed and I graduated. I changed a lot and someone made me discover the wonders of learning when you are being well taught. So I went to university. I spent ten years in it. First I wanted to become a psychologist. Then an archaeologist. Then I wanted to just ditch it all together. In the end I ended up having two degrees, in Greek and philosophy; I also learnt some languages in college, those being Spanish, Italian and French. All of that really opened a lot of doors to me. I can teach those three languages, apart from Greek and philosophy, and I consider myself enjoying the real perks of studying. Education can be fun if you really know what you want."

He lets a few moments so his word sink in the students' minds.

"However, I didn't end up working on anything that I had studied. Not at university at least. I work at the garage because my father's friend died and left it to me. Was I happy at the moment? I can't really tell. I was in the middle of my studies and Greek is a pain in the ass, believe me. But again, I managed. Once I was out of university I took over the garage and made it mine."

He looks at Sam, who is standing with his back pressed to the furthest wall, and he can't help the smile that crepts up to his lips.

"They wanted me to talk to you because not once I thought I was going to end up getting grease in my clothes every day, not after studying frigging Greek. You'd say Greek geeks are nerdy and always clean, but apparently that is just a myth."

He was proud of that pun even if no one laughed.

"The thing is that life doesn't take your plans into account. It takes you and tosses you whatever, and you just have to handle it." He breaths deeply because as sad as it is, it's the truth. He looks up at his audience again and cracks a smile. "Any questions?"

Almost half of the class raises their hands. He can help but feel a little bit proud, at least they were listening. He points to the first boy he sees (and goddamn if he sees him, the guy is frigging gorgeous, with big blue eyes and dark hair).

"You said that you didn't think of becoming a mechanic, what had been your first plan?" the boy asks. His voice is raspy and gruff and Dean has to back the urge of bitting his lip.

"I was thinking of becoming a translator. Ancient books have always been appealing to me."

He pointed at a girl, who was pretty too, but couldn't even reach the other boys appeal.

"What motivated you to study at university?"

Dean frowns lightly before sighed and shrugging. "Would I look bad if I said it was out of love?" he asked jokingly, and this time, some of the students did laugh. Not the gorgeous guy in the first row. "I had met this boy in summer and I was sure he was my real, sappy love, you know, first gay experience and all, silly me thought he was the one. He was going to UCLA so I did too. I signed in the only major that wasn't full and didn't sound so horrible. It was Human Biology and Society and it isn't half fun as it sounds. I hated it, despised it. But there was this professor who convinced me to keep studying. The next year I took Greek, and I loved it. Then I enrolled on psychology, and I wasn't as good as I thought I could be, even if I liked some of the classes. It was interesting but I didn't want to spend my life with it. Then I started philosophy but I also left it. I took the first semester of archaeology and then I went back to philosophy."

He pointed at another boy.

"How did you know when to ditch a degree and when to keep going?"

"That's tricky" he nodded to himself. "I imagined myself working on it, having to spend all my spare time doing it, and if I didn't like it, it just wasn't it. The thing about university is that you learn what you like, even if there are some subjects that might seem boring. If you like the set, that it is."

They continue with the questions until Sam says the time is up.

"It was nice coming here, I hope I helped you. Thank you for listening to me. Bye."

He practically runs out of the classroom. His nerves always get the best of him.

 

* * *

 

 

**_Be careful brother, I won't be there looking after you._ **

He huffs when he reads Benny's text and rolls his eyes. He's going to a bar, a club. Whatever, he just wants to get laid, and he doesn't need Benny acting like a fucking babysitter. Hell, he's thirty five, and he's not even new to this environment.

Once he's inside, he looks around and searches for his usual table only to see that there's already someone sitting in there. It's a boy with messy dark hair. Dean rolls his eyes again and goes for the table next to that one. He's not really that compulsive or anything, but that was the table where he sat the first time he came into this club. It kind of made him feel better, confident.

Maybe it was just destiny telling him that this guy in his seat is the answer to his lack of sex. He smiles slyly. Yeah. He should try.

He gets up and walks toward the guy, only to see him scribbling in a page. "Really, dude? Are you seriously doing economy shit in a club?" he asks laughing lightly.

The boy looks up and Dean loses his words. It's the gorgeous boy who sat in the first row when he gave that talk in Sammy's university. The boy seems to have recognized him because he arches his brow and asks "you took economy too?" Dean frowns but before he can say anything the boy starts talking again "you probably don't remember me and that must have sounded so weird. I was at that talk you gave last week at university."

"Oh I remember you, your eyes are not easy to forget, sugar" he mumbles before he can stop himself. Fuck, now he's probably make it all weird. "Oh- I'm sorry."

However, the boy is blushing and smiling shyly. "Thank you." Dean hums and they fall into silence until the boy talks again. "I liked it. The talk. It was nice, even if you looked like you were going to throw up."

"I feared I was going to" Dean laughed, "I don't do well with big crowds, and much less if I am the centre of the attention."

"Well, either way, your talk was rather enjoyable. And educational too."

"Yeah, well. It's just my life" it was Dean's turn to become fluttered.

"Have you read anything from Aristotle? The original texts I mean" the boy asked, with bright blue eyes fixed in his.

"During the degree we had to translate everything to be able to read the texts. As Greek is a dead language, you can't learn how to really speak it, it's not the same as with Spanish or any other language for nowadays. And with translations we had problems and we mostly used adapted texts. I tried once when I was studying philosophy, kind of just grabbed one of Aristotle texts about nature and tried to translated and it was hard."

"You're interesting."

"You too, I guess. Intriguing too. I don't even know your name yet."

"And you are sitting with me still."

"I guess you could say I'm curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought it back." Dean smirks at the loss of words from the boy.

"My name is Castiel," he said, looking into Dean's eyes.

"Angel's name. Maybe that's why you are so heavenly attractive" he got closer.


	2. I want to see you again

He wakes up with an arm around his waist and someone breathing into his neck.

Castiel.

The clock by his bedside table says it's still 7 am, and he can remember it's Sunday.

He closes his eyes and falls alseep again.

When he wakes up again, he is the one hugging Castiel. His legs are tangled to the other boy's, and he can't help but smile at the feeling. He sighs and he feels a kiss on his head. "Good morning" a gravely voice says.

And wow.

"'Morning," Dean mumbles without moving.

"Are you planing on staying like this for the whole day?" Cas asks teasingly.

Dean hums "I'm warm and sleepy."

"Just like last night." They both chuckle, remembering how Dean had broken the awkward aura that had settled after their orgasmic bliss, before he had pushed Cas to bed and cuddled him. "I should really use the bathroom, though."

Dean groaned and shifted so Cas could get out of the bed. The boy chuckled and walked towards the bathroom. A few minutes later, he got back into the bed and pressed his cold hands into Dean's back. "You son of a bitch!" Dean yelled, getting away and, sadly, falling out of the bed. Castiel was laughing loudly by now. "You are so dead Cas! You are fucking cold!"

Cas would have worried about Dean being really mad if the man hadn't shoved him out of bed. Castiel laughed loudly. "Maybe you should feed me" he smiled teasingly, seeing how opposed was Dean to getting up.

"Mmm, I shouldn't even give you food. I'm even thinking about kiking you out, but I'm hungry, so okay." Dean groaned as he got out of bed. 

He fished some sweatpants from the closet and threw another pair to Cas. "You could wear those nasty jeans but I think they have some stains on them." And he also wanted to see Cas in his clothes, to be honest. 

"Thank you, Dean."

They went to the kitchen and Dean grabbed the cereal box from the cupboard and tossed it to Cas along with two bowls. "I haven't gone to the store in at least two weeks so I don't have anything else, I'm sorry."

Cas nodded with that soft smile of his and served the cereals into both of the bowls as Dean grabbed the milk and two spoons. He sat in front of the blue eyed boy and sighed. Dean didn't want this to be weird so he started talking. "So, you never told me. How old are you?"

"23, I'll be 24 on June," Castiel answers "I got into college a little late because I had a kind of rebel phase when-- when something happened."

"Oh, woah. You are young."

"Young? I'm almost the university senior, I'm at least three years ahead of most of my class. They think of me as an idiot," he rolls his eyes. "Aparently, the only reason possible for a late graduate is being slow. Fucking idiots."

"Well, you're young, I'm 35 and you are probably not an idiot."

"Thanks, that was really inspiring," Cas jokes, taking a full spoon of his cereals.

"You know what I mean, Cas" all the feedback he recieves is a small smile, and he sighs. "Plus, if anyone knows being slow is not the only reason to being a late graduate is me. You know my whole academic history. I ended my studies when I was almost 30."

"You're right. But then again, you'll probably know what it feels like."

"Yeah, and I also know that it is all non-sense. Believe me, Castiel, all that doesn't really matter because students aren't the ones that grade you. Professors don't care about your age, even when they are conventional in the bad way."

Cas shrugs and takes another spoonfull of his breakfast. When he has swallowed it, he looks at Dean "maybe we should stop speaking about that."

Dean doesn't want to because he knows he hasn't convinced the boy, but seeing those blue eyes almost pleading, he craves and nods. "If you'd like."

They stay in silence for a couple of minutes and then Cas sighs.

"There are two outcomes of this. One, I walk out of the door and we never speak again. Two, I walk out of the door with your number on my phone and a date settled for friday," he says. He looks at Dean while speaking, but once he's finished, his eyes go back to the almost empty bowl, like he's nervous. Dean is sure that there's a blush spreading over those soft cheeks of Castiel and he would give anything to see it.

"Friday, huh? I have it full" he says, and Castiel raises his eyes to see him with a little frown. "Maybe Saturday would work better?"

The smile that takes over the face of the younger man is priceless and it makes Dean smile too.

 

* * *

 

 

He knocks at the door three times and not a lot after, his brother is at the door. "Hey, Dean, what are you doing here?" Sam asks with his eyebrow furrowed.

"Just visiting my brother. Didn't know it was a crime now," he jokes, trying to hide his nerves. Sam gives him a glare and he sighes before nodding and looking at the floor. "Yeah, alright. I have to talk to you about something."

"Is it bad?"

"Not really, I guess."

Sam looks at him for a couple of seconds full of silence before he nods. "Yeah, of course. Come in."

He does and looks around. They don't usually meet at each others' places, prefering to be around buzz and surrounded by people. That stops them from fighting. Not they don't have that, and Dean is afraid they'll end up yelling and getting mad at each other.

"So. What did you want to talk about?" Sam asks once Dean has taken all the appartment in.

Dean had always been straight-forward, and his brother was too. For the first time in his life, he wished they weren't like that, afraid of what Sam's answer will be. "I'm seeing someone." He says eventually. "We are just starting and it's not really serious, yet. But I kind of want you to... Want... Uh..."

"You want me to give you the thumbs up?" Sam asks with a frown. Dean nods half-heartedly. "Why? You've never asked me something like this."

"He's at university. Yours, actually. Maybe he'll even be at one of your classes."

"You're hooking up with someone fifteen years younger!?" Sam's horrorified face made the knot at his throat harden.

"Technically he's ten years younger" Dean muttered, looking away again.

"No. Dean you are not going out with a student, that's crazy!"

Dean frowned at his brother. "Look, Sam I didn't come here looking for your blessing. You're my brother and I wanted to tell you, but honestly, if you are not okay with this, I don't fucking care. We are both adults and we both can make our own decisions without you hovering over us."

Even saying this, he knows that he would be ten times better knowing his brother supported him.

"Who is it?" Sam asked. He hadn't calmed yet.

"I'm not going to tell you. Hell we aren't exactly a thing yet. If all this goes okay, I'll formaly introduce you, or whatever, but I'm not going to tell you his name so you can harrass him."

"So what Dean? Are you really getting off to the thought of being with practically a teenager? Or is it him that likes older guys? Maybe he's got some daddy issues, have you thought about that?"

Dean can't believe what his brother has said. After a couple of seconds, Sam apparently realizes too that what he said was out of line.

"I was not-"

"Save it, Sam."

When he left, he slammed the door behind him. 


	3. The b word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is angry and he calls Cas.

Dean was angry. He was so angry that he wanted to punch something, but instead, he called Castiel. At the third ring, he answered. "Hello?" he said, and Dean couldn't help but smile.

"Hey" he answered. "It's me, Dean. You didn't look at the caller ID, did you?" he asked. At the other boy's silence, he chuckled. "You know it exists for a reason, right?" 

Castiel grunted. "Yeah I know but if it's important I don't want to waste any time wondering who it is. My way is better so shut up, Dean." Dean laughed and a couple of seconds after he started, Castiel complied and started laughing too. "Weren't you going to talk with your brother?" He asked once their laughter had stopped.

"Uh- yeah. I told him I was seeing a student and he freaked out. Don't worry I didn't tell him your name."

"Why?"

"First because we are just starting out and if this doesn't work, I don't want anyone holding anything up against you. And second because I wouldn't do that without asking you first, I'm not that much of a douche," Dean rolled his eyes playfully, even if Castiel couldn't see him.

"You're sweet."

Then, he hears something on Castiel's line and sighs "I didn't call you on a bad moment, right?"

"Not at all, I was studying, but I needed a break. You're a nice excuse" Cas voice was cheery even if Dean has told him about Sam and he could feel himself smiling at that.

"It's just- I needed to talk to you" Dean said, feeling his smile drop. "Sam makes me so angry some times. He didn't have the right to say the things he said. He doesn't even know you."

"He kind of does," Cas said in a small voice.

"What?"

"I went to your talk because your brother talked me into it. He doesn't teach me anything, but we've talked before. He gets what I feel because he's the youngest teacher and that makes him different too."

"Still, Cas. He shouldn't say those things about someone I'm interested on."

"So... You're interested on me?" Cas asks, and his teasing tone makes him smile again.

Well, yes. But don't you worry, it'll go away once you've invited me to dinner" he joked.

"I'm a college student, I don't have money" Cas laughed "unless you want crappy pre-heated food. Why do you think I'm dating you? So you can treat me with real food."

"Oh hell no, not more pre-heated food. I already passed that dark time. You're right, I'm your salvation, Cas. We'll go out and I'll pay. Maybe soon I'll cook for you, huh? What do you think about that?"

"Are you saying my boyfriend knows how to cook?"

That makes them both stop. Boyfriend. It sounds right to Dean, and that makes him smile even wider.

"Look, I'm sorry I- I said it in the heat of the moment and all, i don't know" Cas started to ramble, and it was so cute that Dean almost let him go on with it.

"No, I like the sound of it," he said.

"Really?" Cas asked in a small voice.

"Yeah," Dean answered softly. "How about you stop studying and get ready for me to pick you up so I can treat you with real food?"

Cas makes an excited food "can we go somewhere with big rations?"

"Sure."

Almost two hours later, Dean founds himself waiting in the car for Castiel. The boy had texted him telling to wait and not to ring the bell. Dean found that strange, but he decided to not say anything, at least not through a text.

He jumped when Castiel knocked on his window, but he smiled when he so the excited smile the boy was sporting.

"Hello, boyfriend" the boy said with a laugh when he sat next to Dean in the car. 

"You're excited," Dean noted, still smiling.

"That's because I'm happy to see you," Cas answered, winking.

"You're lying. You are happy because I'm going to buy you food," Dean joked.

"Well yes, I haven't eaten a real food in at least two weeks" he said. "You've lived like this, you should understand."

"Hell yes, I do" he laughed loudly and started the car. "You are going to love the place where I'm going to take you. Sam and I used to go there almost every day. The place is owned by a family friend, Ellen, and their burgers are the best, I swear.

"What if we run into your brother?" Cas asked.

Dean pursed his lips and nodded. He understood the Castiel didn't want Sam to know yet, hell, after what he had said when Dean had told him, he didn't want him to meet Castiel. "I'll call Jo and ask her."

"I don't know who is Jo, but unless she's some kind of prophet, I don't think she's going to be able to tell us."

"You're a smartass, did you know that?" Dean rolled his eyes. "Jo is Ellen's daughter. She's also a waitress at the Roadhouse and if I call her she'll warn me if Sam's there and if he isn't and we go and then if he shows up when we are already there, Jo will sit him somewhere far from us."

"Sounds like a lot of trouble" Cas sighed.

"Or we can always go somewhere else" Dean said.

"I'm sorry" Cas' voice cracked a little bit.

Dean looked at him and parked his car quickly before turning to look at Castiel. Dean frowned at the sight. Castiel was looking at his lap, where he was playing with his hands. "Hey, sweetheart, why are you sorry?" He placed a hand on top of Cas' twitching ones.

"You can't even go out where you love because of me," the boy said, and then snorted "your brother hates the fact that you're seeing someone younger so much that you have to hide me from him, and now I'm acting like a child and you think I'm lame and you're going to want to stop seeing me."

"Hey, Cas, look at me, please?" Once the blue eyed boy complied and looked at Dean, he smiled softly. "I am going to show that place to you sooner or later, Cas, but I don't care when if it means that I get to be with you, okay?" He didn't get an answer, and that made him sigh. "Plus, Sam doesn't hate it, he just doesn't understand it yet, he probably thinks I'm playing, but he doesn't know that we are serious about it. And I don't think you're acting like a child, Cas, believe me, if I thought that I wouldn't be wanting to kiss you as much as I am right now," he chuckled "And now, as I said, we are serious about what we both have between us, I don't think I'll want to stop seeing you anytime soon. Probably it'll be you who gets tired of this old ass."

They stayed in silence for a couple of moments more and then Castiel looked up and said "do you really mean all those things, Dean?"

"I swear," Dean made a cross above his heart and couldn't help but smile at his boyfriend’s shy smile.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"No problem in telling you the truth, Cas, if you ever feel like me reminding you, just tell me."

"Such a gentleman," the boy teased.

"You know me" Dean answered cheekily. "Now, how about we get out of the car and explore this unknown land in hopes to find a good not too expensive restaurant?"

"I think that is a very good idea," Cas smiled before getting out of the car.

They had a nice evening together, without any other problem, and when they finished at the restaurant, Castiel stayed in Dean's house for the night.


	4. Blood and hospitals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean has an accident and Cas is there to be his knight in shining armour.

Dean can't help but feel a little nervous. He’s working on a car but his mind isn't on it. He is so distracted that he manages to cut himself. He curses and looks at the cut. His hand is a mix of grease and blood and he’s even starting to get dizzy.

He runs as fast as he can to the bathroom and washes his hands, then, he presses tissues to the cut, but it doesn't stop bleeding. He’s determined to stop the bleeding by himself but then Benny, his best friend, walks into the bathroom, "brother, what do-" his sentence is long forgotten once he sees Dean’s situation.

“It’s okay, I’m okay, go back to work,” Dean grumbles when Benny rushes at his side. He tries to push his friend away of him, but he only manages to hurt his hand even more, which makes him grunt lowly.

“I’m going to take you to the hospital,” Benny declares, ignoring Dean’s attempts to tell him that he’s alright. “Dude, you are not okay. Let’s go.” If it wasn’t because of the dizziness, Dean would have punched him in the arm, but when he tries, he stumbles and almost falls. Thank god Benny is there to help him. “We have to go to the hospital, Garth,” Benny tells the other employee, “we’ll be back as soon as we can, don’t break anything, boy.”

“You can’t leave him here. He’ll destroy the fucking garage,” Dean slurs.

“Have a little bit of faith in the kid,” his friend grumbles while setting him in the passenger’s seat of his truck.

The trip to the hospital is a little bit of a blur, and all Dean can think of is the pain in his hand and blue, blue eyes. They have to wait fifteen minutes until a nurse with a light blue uniform guides them both to a clinic-looking room. The walls are exceptionally white and there are two posters with skeletons and muscles.

“How did this happen?” the nurse asks.

It’s a boy, with light brown hair and hazel eyes. He smells like chocolate, too.

“Dean was fixing a car and then he was bleeding, a lot,” Benny explains a little bit frantically.

“Yes, but I’m alright,” Dean insists.

“It seems like you’ll need stitches, but a big boy like you won’t cry about it, will you?” the nurse jokes. Dean can’t share his good mood so he just mocks him under his breath. Of course he can deal with a couple of stitches. He’s tough. “I’ll give you a couple of painkillers when we finish the stitching and then you’ll be free to go home, but you can’t drive.”

“I’m not going home, I need to finish the goddamn car,” he huffs.

“You can’t go back to work yet, Dean. You’ll have to wait at least two weeks. Minimum.”

Dean almost lunges at the nurse. Two weeks without working, that’s bad, really, really bad. “It’ll be okay, brother, Garth and I got this,” Benny says weakly.

He hisses when he feels the nurse purring alcohol into his wound. Then, he closes his eyes and breathes for a moment. “You go back to work, Benny.”

“I can’t leave you here, brother, something might happen, I-“

“I’ll be alright. I’ll call someone to pick me up and I’ll behave, okay? Just go and help Garth please, that kid is going to destroy my business.”

Benny frowns, seemingly in deep thought, and after a couple of seconds he nods. “Okay, but I’ll wait ‘til that person comes to pick you up.”

“Then call him already, his contact name is Cas” Dean grunts, tossing his phone to his friend while the nurse starts working with the needle.

Benny can’t help but raise an eyebrow at his friend, who suddenly seems more interested in his lacerated hand than in Benny. With a sight, he walks out of the room and into the corridor and he dials the number, and after a couple of seconds, the other person, _Cas_ , picks it up. “Dean?” The voice is deep but it sounds a little muffled. “This is not a good time.”

That makes Benny frown even more. “I’m not Dean. My name is Benny, I work with Dean. He had a little accident.” He knows he should have gone into deeper detail, considering Dean cared about this guy that much that he relied on him to take care of him. He just wants to make him suffer a little bit for the rude picking up, and maybe see if he cares for Dean as much as the guy deserves.

“Oh my god, is he alright?” Suddenly, the tired edge on the man’s voice has disappeared. “Please tell me a car didn’t fall on him or something, oh my god. Where is he? Can I go see him?” Benny got his answer when he almost caused a panic attack on a stranger.

“Hey, man, calm down, okay? He’s alright, he cut his hand and he’s getting the wound stitched. He’s a stubborn son of a bitch and he’s sending me back to the garage. We were wondering if you could come pick him up becau-“

“Yes!” the sudden answer startles him a little bit. “Where are you? I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Saint Julie’s,” Benny grumbles.

“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes, tell him that. Bye. Balthazar I-“ the deep voice gets lost when he hangs up.

Benny walks into the room when the nurse is finishing with the stitches. He looks at Dean and nods. “Your friend is going to be here in ten minutes.”

“Good,” Dean mumbles, again he’s looking at anything but Benny.

“At first he said it wasn’t a good time, I think he was with someone called Balthazar, but as soon as I said there had been an accident he became so worried he ditched the guy,” Benny explains. He doesn’t really know why, but telling Dean this seemed necessary.

Dean’s answer is a soft smile. Cas is his knight in a bright armour. He thanks Benny, and once the nurse finishes his job, he thanks him too.

“It’s alright, big boy. I’m glad you didn’t cry. And good luck with that Cas of yours,” he winks and gets out of the room. A couple of minutes later, he comes back and gives Dean a couple of pills. “Take this.” Dean complies half-heartedly. He doesn't really like taking pills but who does? Druggies, probably. “And with that, we’re finished here.”

“Thank you…,” Dean looks at the name tag at the nurse’s chest, “Gabriel.”

Benny half carries him to the entrance of the hospital and there, he sees Castiel looking everywhere with a red face. He smiles happily and pushes Benny away, with every intention of walking towards Castiel. However, he just stumbles and falls midway.

Thankfully, his knight in a bright armour (aka Castiel) sees him and rushes over where Benny is helping him sit. “’Ello” Dean smiles widely at him.

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel answers, grabbing his hand softly. He then looks at Benny and smiles a little bit shyly. “I’m Castiel.”

“Benny,” the other man mutters. “You need help to put him in the car?”

Castiel nods with his head and they both grab Dean and guide him to a crappy blueish car. “Dude, your car is shit,” Dean giggles.

“It’s not mine,” Castiel rolls his eyes. “Shut up and sit, Dean.”

Once they manage to get Dean into the car, Cas turns to look at Benny. “Thank you. I’ll have Dean call you once he’s back to normal.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

Cas nods and gets into the car with Dean, driving to the older man’s house.


	5. Nursing degree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking care of Dean turns domestic

When Dean wakes up, the first thing he notices is the sharp sting in his hand. It is then when he remembers what happened the day before, and that makes him groan. It's not the first time he has hurt himself while working on a car, but this time it had been half serious, and it all had happened because he was distracted.  He hasn’t forgot why was he distracted, how could he? He had been thinking about Cas –it was something he finds himself doing a lot of times, really- and about how weird is everything around him. It is a good weird, however, maybe a little bit scary, but good. They have been dating for less than a month and Dean feels better than he has with anyone else. It is crazy, but it doesn’t make it any less true.

 _He may be in love with Castiel_.

And it is not that he doesn’t want to be, but it’s scary. He has never felt this way with anyone, not even Aaron, back when he was a teenager and he followed the guy to university just for the sake of love. Of course, he knows that wasn’t really love, it was more of a dependency than anything, but it had felt like love. And still, what Castiel made him feel, was nothing compared to that. It was better, like a fire taking his insides apart. And it still feels good.

He’s deep inside his thoughts when the door opens, so he doesn’t notice Castiel at first, but once he does, he can’t stop the smile. “Hey,” he mumbles.

“How are you feeling?” Castiel asks, walking towards Dean and sitting in the bed with him. “You scared me for good yesterday.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just a stupid little thing, actually,” he answers, looking at his bandaged hand. “Thank you for picking me up, and I’m sorry I interrupted whatever you were doing, really.”

“It is fine, Dean. I was studying with some friends, which was actually really convenient because Balthazar let me borrow his car.” Castiel shrugs, his blue, shiny eyes are fixed in Dean, and it makes his stomach feel weird. “I don’t have a car.”

“Thank god that shitty thing was not yours,” Dean jokes with an easy smile, “if it was, I would have to break up with you and I certainly don’t want that.”

Castiel laughs loudly and it makes Dean’s head hurt a little, probably because of the pills he took yesterday, but he still smiles. “I’m glad you _certainly_ don’t want that. It may be a little bit of an exaggeration because it’s just _a car_ , but I don’t want you to break up with me either.”

And if his heart beats a little bit faster because of that, nobody has to know.

He gets closer to Cas and with a little smile, he presses his lips to the boy’s. “But really, thank you, and thank you for staying with me tonight too.”

“You’re thanking me for sharing a comfy, warm bed with a hot guy who I get to call my boyfriend, and who also has his fridge full of eatable food. I should be the one thanking you, just so you know.”

Dean laughs at that, but it hurts his head too so he stops. He may have grimaced a little bit because Castiel’s expression changes too. “Let’s be serious now, how are you feeling?”

“Good, I promise,” Dean says, but blue eyes glare at him so he has to sigh and tell the truth “my head hurts a little, but it must be the painkillers or something, it’s not bad, I’ll just rest and be a useless grandpa.”

“You’re 35, Dean,” Castiel rolls his eyes. “Do you want me to go so you can rest?”

Dean looks at his hand again, feeling little and younger than ever. “Not really, but if you have to go I’ll be alright.” Please don’t say you have to go, please don’t say you have to go…

“I should go to class, but if you want me to stay, I’ll stay, it’s not a big deal if I skip today. Balthazar took his car early in the morning anyways.”

Dean looks at the clock in his bedside table and he frowns. It’s 10:37, and Castiel’s classes start at 9:00. “Cas,” he whines. “You don’t have to skip classes because of me, you should have gone.”

That makes Castiel look down at his hands. “I didn’t want you to wake up alone,” he says in a small voice.

Dean sighs, and takes the boy’s hand, “and I’m thankful for that, but your classes are important, sweetheart.”

“I know.”

“C’mon, I’ll let you borrow some clothes and then you’re going to class, okay? You can take the impala, that way you’ll have to come back after class,” Dean’s tone is cheeky, but he really wants Castiel to stay with him after class. “If that’s not a problem, of course.”

“Not a problem at all. I’d love it, actually.”

They say goodbye with a kiss and the rest of the day is just dull for Dean. He’s preparing his lunch, his phone dings. It is Cas and Dean can’t hide his smile at seeing the boy’s name in his phone.

**_I told Benny you’d call him when you woke up and I forgot to tell you, so call him. I miss you btw, how are you feeling?_ **

**_I’m really okay, tell me when you get out of classes, okay? And I’ll call Benny right now._ **

He complies and calls his friend, who answers almost immediately. “Dean!”

“Hey, Benny, Cas told me to call you.”

“Yeah, I was worried. How are you feeling?”

“Dude, it was just a little cut, it wasn’t even that bad. Your all overreacting.”

Benny snorts “you should have seen yourself when we were getting out of the ER.”

“Dude you’re such a drama queen.”

And after another couple of attempts coming from Benny to convince Dean he had been an ass at the ER, and still, he doesn’t really believed him.

Dean has to wait a couple of hours more until Castiel arrives home and once he does, he can’t help his smile. He welcomes him with a big, passionate kiss and guides him back to the living room.

“I packed a bag with clothes for a couple of days, I hope that isn’t too pretentious,” Castiel says, looking down.

“Are you planning on nursing me, baby?” he asks smiling slyly. “That’s why you packed clothes?”

“I guess,” Cas’ voice is still hesitant.

Dean pulls the boy near and hugs him loosely “you really didn’t need to do that, I would hate to turn your life outside down, really.”

“I want to.”

This is a good damn moment for Dean to say the words, but he refrains himself. “Then I’m really thankful, Cas, even if I prefer you in my clothes.”


End file.
